Hills: how do I loathe thee?

Chris: Let me count the ways.    The upside to hills is that there is a downside.  But I get going too fast and it’s scary.  Quite a few groups of motorcyclists passed me today.  They always come up on me just as I’m slotting up a hill barely creeping along.  I get a little nod and a small hand wave.  I wonder what it means.  Respect?  Thank God it’s you and not me?  Is that what they’re thinking when they see me struggling?  Because in that moment I’m jealous as they zoom off into the distance.   

We accidentally ended up in Johnson City where president Johnson was born and raised.  After biking around the working ranch, going through the visitors center and seeing where he went to school and spent his formative years on that big ranch I see that he and President Kennedy came from vastly different backgrounds.   But I guess Kennedy needed to win Texas and his strategy worked. 

After puffing my way through 28 miles of up and down this was a very welcome sight.   The peanut butter and jelly sandwich was pretty awesome too.

The bluebonnets are in bloom and just beautiful.  If anyone wants to see more cow pictures let me know.  I’m trying to restrain myself but they’re just so cute.  Today I passed by some cattle crossings and the cows had free range across the road.  Sadly, they were afraid of me and ran off when I approached. 

Yesterday I learned that a woman two years older than me just got herself in the Guinness world Record book for being the oldest woman to complete the Southern Tier bike route.   No wonder this is hard for me.  I’M OLD.   And no, I will not be trying to beat her record.   Or any record.  I consider it a victory if I can roll out of bed each morning and stand up.

By the way, the hills don’t look impressive when I post pics of them.  I’m not about to take one at the bottom of the hill because I would lose my momentum going up and it’s too frightening to take one when I’m flying down at 32 mph.  You just have to trust me on this one.  I’m going to die in the mountains.  Barb, I think you were right:  e-bikes would have been a good idea.